Page 6 of Of Sins and Sacrifice

He’s wearing his full military garb, which tells me he hasn’t even stopped by his room before coming to see me. That warms my heart. At least one person in this wretched household believes I amgood enough.

“It’s in Anthropa. There is a violent conflict going on, affecting the entire world. Commander Azerius dispatched me and my regiment to prevent demons from consuming the souls of the mortals dying in the conflict.”

“Oh,” I murmur. I don’t know where Anthropa is, but it’s standard for an Aperite regiment to head to a world when there is a widespread conflict. Demons are always lurking around, waiting for such an event so they can swoop in and consume as many souls as they can.

“I am not sure how long we will be there, so I wanted to see you before I left.”

“That’s so sweet of you, Kai. I wish I could also be there.” I sigh.

“You don’t.” He laughs. “It’s not going to be pretty, Minerva. It will likely be bloody and dirty. That’s not a place for you.”

“I don’t care about that. I only care about killing demons,” I tell him. “And I can already imagine they’re going to be swarming around.”

He grunts.

“The casualties the House of Psyche reported so far for Anthropa are in the millions. And that is only the souls that have managed to cross over. We don’t have an estimate for how many have already been consumed.”

“Why didn’t Commander Azerius send you there earlier, then?” I frown.

When a world becomes embroiled in such a conflict, Aperite forces are immediately dispatched to prevent the loss of souls.

Kai flattens his lips.

“He sent another regiment. But they are overwhelmed.”

“There arethatmany demons?” I ask in awe.

He nods grimly.

“We don’t know why, but lately there’s been an increased demon activity. He sent a regiment based on the normal estimates in the case of such a conflict, but it seems this particular event is more violent than we thought.”

“Violent how?”

He looks away for a moment.

“Genocide.”

I blink.

“W-what?”

“It is not just the soldiers on either side that are dying or some unfortunate civilian casualties. There are people specifically targeted for extermination. Hundreds of thousands of them as far as we know. Maybe more.”

“Genocide?” I repeat weakly. “On that scale?”

“Thousands die daily. The current regiment cannot keep up with it.”

“And we can’t do anything to help?” The words are out of my mouth before I can think it through.

“I wish we could do something about it. I wish we could do something about all the conflicts in the universe. But you know we cannot, Minerva.” He sighs. “We cannot intervene in mortals’ fates. If they wish to destroy themselves… They have the freedom of will to do so.”

“But—”

“It saddens me just as much as it does you. Our only duty is to prevent demons from disturbing the natural cycle of a soul, nothing more.”

“I don’t like it,” I grumble.

He gives me a sad smile.

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